


ligo krasi ligo thalassa

by artemis_west



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fluff, Greece, M/M, One Shot, Post-Canon, Romantic Fluff, Summer Vacation, Vacation, World Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 06:59:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemis_west/pseuds/artemis_west
Summary: Neil and Andrew go on a spontaneous trip to Greece.





	ligo krasi ligo thalassa

**Author's Note:**

> i'm alive? hi
> 
> anyway im sorry i've been MIA i promise i have been working on fics i just haven't finished any of them or posted them lmao, but i went to europe this summer! i stayed in scotland, germany and greece, and i wrote this fic literally as i was staying on the exact island andrew and neil visit. i was with my friend (shoutout to gee) and this fic is basically exactly our experience on the island. i got so inspired and i know this is really short and it's blah but i'm glad i'm finally posting something after months!!

“Anywhere,” Andrew said, shrugging carelessly in answer to Neil’s question. “Anywhere you want. Pick the place and we’ll go.”

Neil had suggested a vacation during their last summer at Palmetto, and at Andrew’s response, he closed his eyes, spun the globe Kevin kept on his desk and put his finger on a random place. 

The pad of his finger rested on a tiny little island in Greece called Agistri. They were packed in less than twenty-four hours, flights, boat and bus tickets booked after that. Andrew worked fast. 

Neil had never been to Greece. He found it a funny coincidence, because he’d been thinking of taking up another language lately besides the Russian he and Andrew had almost mastered. Greek was one of his top choices. He liked the sound of it. 

On the plane there - a long eleven hour flight to Athens first, then a ferry to the island - Neil fell asleep on Andrew’s shoulder. When he woke up, Andrew slid the window shade up to show him they were flying over clear blue waters and beautiful mountainous landscapes. 

From above, it was breathtaking. It was almost overwhelming when they landed. The city of Athens was bustling and alive, full of people, lovers, families and friends. Neil wanted to get caught up in it, stay for a while, but they’d already booked their ferry tickets.

The port of Piraeus was hot and muggy, and several times Andrew had to fend off aggressive hawkers trying to sell cheap sunglasses and hats. Neil was surprised by their boldness - he watched them as they walked right up to people waiting for their boats, heedless of boundaries and personal space. They would shove their wares in tourists’ faces, and some who just wanted money would simply walk around with their hand held out, expecting coins to fall into their palms. 

Neil was used to people actively avoiding Andrew, not walking right up to him and smiling expectantly. Athens was wild country. 

“Hey, easy,” Neil said gently, restraining Andrew’s arm before he punched one of the beggars in the face. Neil had seen Andrew drop money into homeless people’s cups plenty of times before, but this was different. They were invading his space, not so much asking for money as demanding it. 

Neil scrounged in his pocket and pulled out a twenty-euro bill. He’d been trying to study a little Greek on the plane, and he thought he managed to tell the man to leave them alone. The man pocketed the money without saying anything and moved on to the next group of sweating tourists. Neil shook his head. 

“Amazing,” he said. He sympathized with the homeless; he’d been there. But he knew what it looked like, and he had a feeling that most of the people bothering the travelers at the port were just doing it because they could.

“Where’s our boat,” Andrew said, taking Neil’s hand and squeezing it to calm down. Neil gave him a comforting squeeze back and looked at their tickets, then around at the boats and ferries bobbing in the water. 

“I think it’s that one,” he said, pointing to a small blue-and-white passenger ferry. They shouldered their bags - they’d packed for a week - and walked to their waiting chariot. 

Neil had been taking pictures of everything he saw that caught his eye, and he snuck some of Andrew framed by the ferry window when he wasn’t looking. 

The ride from Athens to Agistri was no more than an hour, and they disembarked on a small stone port, a rumbling bus - Agistri’s only bus - waiting in the lot. They would’ve walked to their hotel, but the heat was getting to be a little much. They were both sweating through their clothes. 

Neil was used to adjusting to different climates, but he knew Andrew didn’t much care for the heat. When they were safely in their hotel room - a small white room with tiled floors and one white bed - Andrew turned on the air conditioning and stripped off his shirt. 

“Greece,” he said, turning to face Neil with an accusatory look. 

Neil smiled. “Wanna go swimming?”

The beaches were small and mostly filled with rocks, but on the seaside street their hotel was on, beach bars and restaurants all had their own areas claimed, different sections of large chairs, tables and umbrellas marked by signs for each business. There were plenty to choose from, and Andrew selected one at random. 

It was already evening by now, the sun low, and Agistri was mostly quiet. Athens had been much more filled with life, but on the island, there were quiet groups of people keeping to themselves, families with kids or couples young and old. Neil supposed it made sense, since the island was so small. The street facing the ocean seemed to be the only - and therefore most popular - area of interest. 

Neil and Andrew chose seats on the beach across from a restaurant called Ligo Krasi Ligo Thalassa. Curious, Neil looked up the translation. 

It meant “some wine, some sea,” and it was partial lyric to a popular Greek song from the 1960’s. The whole line from the song was “some wine, some sea, and my man.” Neil liked it. 

He and Andrew left their things on their chairs and waded out into the crystal-clear water. The only other people swimming were yards away or farther down the island by the bigger hotels (Neil and Andrew had chosen a small, private studio). 

It was peaceful, for the moment, and it might as well have been just the two of them. 

“Thank you,” Neil said as he watched Andrew float on his back in the water, face turned to the sky. “For this.” For coming here, for being with him. 

Andrew’s hand floated towards him in the water, and Neil pulled him upright. His arms slid around Andrew’s neck as he kissed him while the sun set. 

They found that at night, Agistri came alive. It had been quiet before, but when the sky went dark, the music began to play and the lights from every building on the island twinkled in the night. They walked the seaside street together, side by side. Andrew paused at a pop-up bookshop, and Neil stared at the way the lights illuminating the books glowed on Andrew’s hair.

All the books were in Greek, but Andrew bought one. After that, they chose one of the bars at random and sat by the ocean for a drink, listening to the sea  _ shush _ softly while laughter and music bubbled through the air. 

They were surrounded by people, but it still felt like their own little corner of the world. 

They stayed out late, just sitting by the sea. It was midnight when they finally walked back to their hotel. Nothing had begun to die down yet - the night life still thrived, but it dimmed the farther away they got from the shops. 

Their fingers brushed as they walked. Neil took Andrew’s hand and looked up at the sky. There were more stars than he thought he’d ever seen before.

“We should come back here,” he said quietly. “Some day.”

“We still have six more days,” Andrew reminded him with a look. 

Neil smiled and looked away from the stars to kiss him. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope y'all liked :-) more fics coming soon


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